


Through and Through

by LittleBitsofIdeas



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Episode: s04e01-02 The Darkest Hour, Hurt Merlin (Merlin), Hurt/Comfort, Implied Merthur, M/M, the dorachas fucked him up and arthur's helping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-10-09 02:47:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20467004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleBitsofIdeas/pseuds/LittleBitsofIdeas
Summary: After being frozen by the dorachas in The Darkest Hour, Merlin is left to deal with the unbearable cold. Arthur steps in to help warm up his stupidly brave servant.





	Through and Through

**Author's Note:**

> After loving Merlin with my whole heart for 7 years, I finally got the courage to write a fic for it. I saw the post about the Merlin Touch Fest 2019 and I just couldn't resist. Hopefully y'all enjoy <3

The cold hurt, everywhere. Merlin was pretty sure his blood was frozen, pushing through his body in a solid. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, everything just hurt. He was pretty sure he could just die right then, but there’s some annoying force keeping him in the hell frozen over that is his body.

The pain made seconds feel like hours, his brain screaming at the unprocessable pain, but suddenly the pain lessened ever so slightly. Something was soft but burning hot on his shoulder, rolling him over. The same heat met the back of his neck, the one from his shoulder moving to his chest. Someone was holding him, warming his frozen skin with their hands. The heat, while barely easing the pain or stiffness in his chest, was enough to shock his body into taking a breath. Shallow, too shallow Merlin thought somewhere in the very back of his mind, but a breath none of the less. Suddenly his world burst into chaos, with more hands touching him and voices that sounded far away talking to him, but thinking was much too hard and trying to figure things out as they happened was impossible. Merlin just focused on the heat whenever it was around, letting out soft and much too pitiful noises whenever the heat would leave. He’d be embarrassed if he wasn’t so agonizingly cold, and the noises seemed to work because pretty soon he was being lifted and carried, even the chainmail and armor feeling warm to Merlin. He was gently laid down not long after, a large steady heat that must’ve been the fire against him and the heat of hands would come and go on random parts of his body.

After a while, Merlin was able to start thinking again. He was laid down next to the fire, wrapped up in every spare piece of fabric the knights must’ve been able to find. The knights were taking turns by his side, tucking the blankets and such over him tighter and rubbing his frozen skin for as long as they could before the cold would sink into their own skin and they’d have to take a break to warm themselves up. No one could touch him for long, the doracha had frozen him so solid he could tell the touch of him burned. He hated it though because nothing felt as good as their hands against his skin. The warmth of their hands were able to penetrate deep into his skin, easing the pain of the cold radiating from his core. Even his magic felt frozen in his body, a force that was usually keeping him warm was useless against protecting him from this deep cold. His magic was, however, fighting him on the whole dying thing. Merlin was pretty sure he’d prefer to be dead than spend another moment in this calamitous cold, but it didn’t seem he had a choice on the matter. He whined a deep and painfilled noise that he hated before forcing his frozen eyes closed, a relief to his tired body. He must’ve passed out, because when he opened his eyes again he was surrounded by most of the knights. He looked around, noticing Leon wasn’t amongst them. He must be keeping watch.

Everyone else was looking at him with such grave concern, and Merlin wanted to comfort them. Reassure them he was alright, that he could keep going with the quest, but all that he managed to get out through his iced lips was “Cold.”

Eloquently put, Merlin. They probably knew that.

The one-word answer somehow seemed to give relief nonetheless, the knights all relaxing, some of the tension in their faces easing. He was alive still, somehow. Merlin wished he could help more, to give them more reassurance. It’s not like he could die, his magic wouldn’t let him. He just needed to warm back up and then he’d be right as rain again. Simple. Now he just needs to figure out how to put that into words. 

“M’cold.”

Okay. _ New _ words. Not obvious words.

“M’okay.”

That was better?

He very obviously wasn’t okay, but the words brought a small smile to the knights around him. “Only you, Merlin,” Gwaine spoke up, with an eye roll, “Would say you were okay after being frozen by the doracha.”

Merlin tried to smile back, but his face was still too frozen and stiff. He made a noise in between a hum and a whine. That much talking had exhausted him already. He was too cold to be trying to socialize at all and really just wanted to rest some more. His eyes fluttered shut again, and more time must’ve passed because when he opened his eyes most of the knights were asleep, Gwaine was keeping watch with the torch, and Arthur was kneeling over him, sliding some heated bricks underneath the layers of blankets piled on top of Merlin, being careful to not let them actually touch his skin. 

Merlin was shivering now, a full-body shiver that made him wonder if it wasn’t just the earth shaking him. He wasn’t frozen completely solid anymore, but his body was so tight and exhausted that the act of shivering hurt. Merlin hated being conscious again.

After Arthur finished tucking the cloak around Merlin, he gently lifted Merlin’s head to pull out a folded cloak that was damp from Merlin melting and replacing it with his lap, resting Merlin’s head gently on his warm thighs. They were gloriously warm against his cold skin, and Merlin made a pretty embarrassing noise when Arthur would reach down to run one hand through his hair and the other moving to rub gentle circles on his chest.

Arthur sighed softly, and Merlin’s stomach churned. He knew Arthur well, extremely well. He knew each of his sighs and what they meant. This wasn’t the soft sigh of when he was tired, or the deep sigh when he was frustrated with Merlin. This was a new sigh, and it made Merlin worry, but then Arthur brought his hand down to Merlin’s face and Merlin didn’t have the energy to think about it. His calloused and gloriously heated hand was cupping Merlin’s cheek, holding him despite how cold he was, and the feeling of Arthur’s warmth against him was pretty much the most amazing thing Merlin had ever felt.

“You really are an idiot Merlin.” Arthur’s soft voice appeared, chastising him, and Merlin huffed out a small noise of disagreement. “No, really. You’re...you’re too brave for your own damn good. A completely selfless moron. Jumping in front of the doracha like that? Are you out of your mind?” Arthur took his hands away to run them through his hair, a nervous tick of his that Merlin would’ve normally comforted him in response too, but instead he just made another pitiful noise. Arthur’s hands were the only thing that felt good in this cold hell of his own body, and he was just going to take them away? Luckily Arthur understood the broken sound and brought his hands back, cradling Merlin’s head in one hand and taking one of Merlin’s shaking hands in the other.

“You just..._ can't _ do that stuff, Merlin. You can’t. I know you, for whatever reason, take it upon yourself to protect me but that’s not your _ job_. It’s _ my _ job to protect _ you _. I’m your prince and you’re my _ servant_. I shouldn’t-I shouldn’t have even allowed you to _ come_.”

Merlin honestly wasn’t really processing the words, just reveling in Arthur’s touch. The doracha had left him so thoroughly cold, and Arthur’s warmth was penetrating the cold. He wanted more of it, to pull Arthur closer to him and lay in his arms and steal any warmth Arthur could spare. Merlin used all the strength he had to lean into the hand on his cheek more and mutter, “You’re warm.”

Arthur sighed again, and that was a sigh Merlin knew. It was the affectionate sigh, the one that meant that even when Merlin messed up Arthur wasn’t actually mad. Arthur somehow read Merlin’s mind and shifted, momentarily pulling himself away completely and Merlin would’ve started crying if his tear ducts weren’t frozen, before laying down next to Merlin. He pulled the blankets and miscellaneous other fabrics up to slide under them as well, pulling Merlin close to him with such gentleness that Arthur very rarely displayed, especially in front of others. He slid one arm underneath Merlin’s head to support it before wrapping the other around Merlin’s waist, wrapping himself around Merlin and letting him leech every ounce of heat Merlin could. letting Merlin practically purred at the heat making its way into his frozen bones. It almost felt like all of this had been worth it, like everything before had just been building to Arthur holding him. His whole life was just meant for this.

That was probably just the cold talking, but Arthur felt _ really _ good.

He could feel Arthur make a soft noise before feeling a hand in his hair, wiping away some of the cold water that had pooled on the stands from the melting ice. “You’re just...too important to lose Merlin. I need you. I...nevermind.” His words were soft, whispers above Merlin so soft that he probably wasn’t even meant to hear them at all.

Merlin wanted to respond, he really did, but by the time he had the strength to open his mouth he had forgotten what Arthur had said at all. He was finally warming up. The shivering eased up and his muscles relaxed, exhaustion taking over his body.

  
Everything would be okay as long as Arthur was around. 


End file.
